


Pretense

by ZeldaElmo



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Genre: Angst, Ashei/Shad - Freeform, F/M, Friends With Benefits, Porn With Plot, Smut, Swearing, zelink
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-01
Updated: 2021-03-03
Packaged: 2021-03-13 12:15:03
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,211
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29776020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZeldaElmo/pseuds/ZeldaElmo
Summary: Link is perfectly content with the so called friends-with-benefits-arrangement he has with his roommate Zelda - or so he thinks.
Relationships: Link/Zelda (Legend of Zelda)
Comments: 22
Kudos: 91





	1. Realization

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you @eventidings for looking this over for me!

The door of their apartment flew open and crashed against the wall with an irksome ‘bang’, while Zelda tossed her messenger bag in the corner. She kicked the door, producing another ‘bang’, when it clunked shut and only now Link noticed that her braid was a mess, and she was holding their mail with her teeth. Standing up from his place on the couch where he had been trying to study for his next exam, he headed in her direction to help her out of her coat and chuckled: “Tough day?” 

The envelopes had a nice semicircle pressed into them, but he didn’t care, when he put them aside and hung her woolen coat on their improvised coat rack which was in reality just a few hooks bolted on the wall. 

“Yeah, my bus was late this morning, so I missed a part of my lecture. We are writing a really important test next week, I’m never going to catch that up! Oh, and the lady from the cafeteria gave me turkey strips with my salad instead of croutons, can you believe that?” She threw her head back. “And don’t get me started on that study group with Ashei and Shad. I have to do everything by myself because these two lovebirds can’t stop staring in each other's eyes. Gross!” 

“Someone not in the mood for sweet nothings, Zeldy-poo?”, Link laughed at her. 

“You wouldn’t dare! One of the many advantages of our little agreement, wouldn’t you say?” Scooting over in his personal space, she flipped a curl from his forehead. It had been a half year now that they had added ‘with benefits’ to their status as roommates/friends (not literally, of course, that would be weird) and he knew exactly what she was up to, when she was getting touchy. 

He wasn’t sure anymore who of them brought the idea up or how they had gotten to a topic like that in the first place, but they had somehow. As crazy as it sounded at first, in the end, they had followed through. The first time they had helped themselves over the awkwardness with a serious amount of liquid courage, but after that it crystallized more and more that they were a perfect match on the sheets. 

Zelda, the assiduous thinker she was, had insisted on some rules. They would stop the moment, one of them would fall in love with someone else. One-night-stands were allowed, but only with a rubber, and they would discuss afterwards if they wanted to continue or not. If one of them was ever uncomfortable with something, they would talk about it – at the kitchen table, not in bed, and so on and on. 

Link had no affinity to rules in general, but he hadn’t much to argue. Being friends with her had been fun before, and then she wanted to add plenty of opportunities for mind-blowing sex without any liabilities? Really, that was a no-brainer. He wasn’t looking for a girl-friend anyway with the last, stressful year of his sports studies nearing and the last time he tried to have one, everything was so horribly _complicated_. No, friends with benefits with Zelda was perfect. 

He wasn’t surprised to see that she had come even closer and shot him her best bedroom eyes. 

“You know what my mood is like? Ordering pizza and _getting_ _laid_. If you don’t mind.” 

“Sure”, he shrugged casually. “You know I would never say no to pizza, _my valentine_.” 

She rolled her eyes at him. “You are horrible.” 

He pulled her close, cupped her backside and bit her pulse point softly, only to soothe the pain with his tongue afterwards. “Don’t kid with your favorite stress relief, Zelda.” 

He knew he was mostly that for her. Often enough he had thought that she could simply pace down her workload instead of beginning an affair with him, but who was he to complain? He grinned secretly at her collarbone, remembering the moment she found out about that time-turner when they watched Harry Potter together. She had freed herself from his loose embrace with wide eyes, explaining that she needed this artifact immediately. He had tried to point out that Hermione _really_ looked exhausted and that he didn’t want her to get overworked like that. Well, she had climbed on his lap, insisting that she had way better coping strategies than Hermione and had begun to suck on his bottom lip. Needlessly to say that they had to watch the rest of the movie on another evening. 

“What are you grinning about?”, she asked, while she pulled the hoodie over his head, followed by her own blouse a moment later. 

“New underwear”, he whistled through his teeth, retracing the upper lace hem with his fingertips. “Nice.” He buried his face between her breasts, squeezing them lightly so her nipples rubbed against the transparent fabric of the bra, and mumbled, “Just happy that you choose me for this.” 

“Well”, she smirked and fumbled with his belt, “you are here anyway.” 

“Someday all these compliments you are giving me will go to my head, Zelda”, he laughed, before he freed himself from his jeans, briefs and socks. “And now let me see the rest of that dream in black and nothing.” 

Moments later she had shoved him onto his bed and towered over him, grinding down. The friction of the soft mesh fabric of her panty turned his pleasant arousal into white-hot want with nothing but a few sways of her hips. 

They weren’t always in a such a hurry. He normally preferred to tease her with some kind of foreplay, be it with his mouth or what else she was up to, but when she came home stressed out like this, she wanted it straight to the point. Dutifully, he sneaked his hand between them nonetheless and forced the soaked fabric of her underwear aside, curling and pushing his fingers where her heat began and deeper until her breath hitched. 

Impatiently, she shoved his hand aside to slid her now exposed skin along him, sharing her warm wetness over and over with him, and he suppressed the urge to buck his hips, knowing she would only tease him more, if he would. It was a game they liked to play – whoever was on top was in control and both of them enjoyed the thrill of the respective position equally. 

“Please”, he begged as his fingertips slid over the smooth skin up her waist until he reached the outsides of the bra, following the line of the fabric to her breasts, pinching her still covered nipples, “please let me fuck you in this.” 

She smirked at him, gave him a few firm strokes and positioned herself over him, her panty somewhere crinkled at her inner thigh. “Knew you would like them.” He forced himself to take measured breaths when she undid her braid so that the tips of her brown hair brushed the swell of her breasts, everything with him a few inches inside her. His suffering didn’t remain unnoticed, and she dove down for a hard kiss, whispering against his lips: “You are so _needy_ , Link. I thought you would prefer my hair open.” 

He tried to push his hips up, but she wouldn’t let him. “I do”, he hissed, “and don’t pretend it was me who dragged you here.” 

She threw her head back, when she sank down on him, exposing her wild beauty to his view, letting out a low moan, and he was left to gasp, helplessly surrendering to her heat. He would never get tired of this moment, no matter how often they had done this by now. 

Once they were joined, she rolled her hips, once, twice, sending a tingling shiver over his whole body. 

“Slow? Or…”, she asked and gasped, when he grabbed her still half-dressed hips and thrust into her. 

“Slow?”, he groaned, pushing up again, “We were beyond that the moment you carried that sweet nothing here to the check-out.” 

And then, she finally moved with him, whispering ‘good’, until her words were lost in the steadily increasing push and pull between them. Her hands curling into fists on his chest, a flush spreading on her chest, she was still able to go faster, to raise and raise the heat inside his groin. It wasn’t long until she had reduced his mind to the familiar mix between ‘ZeldaZeldaZelda’ and ‘don’t stop’ replaying over and over, until she bent down to kiss him again. The kiss was open-mouthed and messy, but it angled her hips just so that he could only choke out: “Gods, Zelda!” 

She smiled against his mouth, before she bit his lips softly, and he was kind of impressed how much control she had still left, because he surely had none anymore. Propping himself on his elbows, he found her nipple with his mouth and began to twirl his tongue around the bud through the transparent fabric. She shoved a pillow under his head from somewhere, and he bit down instead or perhaps to thank her, eliciting a cry from her. “Yes! L-link, more, gods, m-more.” 

He knew she was getting closer when she began to stutter, so he abandoned her hips for her breasts, tearing the soft fabric of the bra apart and sucked at every part he could reach, toying the other breast with his thumb. Her voice was higher now, panting ‘yes, yes, yes’ and when he felt her tightening around him, the pleasant fog on his mind contained only snippets of her ‘yesyesyes’, his ‘ZeldaZeldaZelda’ and ‘loveyouloveyouloveyou’. 

What. That – what? What?! 

His hips stilled on their own accord, the grip he had only seconds before on her breasts loosened, and he sacked down on the pillow, eyes wide open. 

“Oh, fuck”, he whispered. 

She slowed down as well, groaning in frustration and misreading his slackening posture completely. “Already? Gods, I was so close, Link.” 

“What?”, he blinked at her, confused. “No, no, just…” He pulled her down in a quick kiss and flipped them. “Y-you wanted to get laid, yes? My turn.” 

“Oh”, she breathed, wrapping her legs around him and pushing him closer with her heels, “sorry”. 

His movements were messy, unfocused and for the first few thrusts he was just able to oblige her, to follow her guidance, saved by muscle memory alone. He gained back control right at the moment when her gasps turned into panting once more, a little cry escaping her, when she finally reached the climax she had so urgently wanted. Giving her no time to adjust like he normally would, he grabbed her hip to change the angle, to bury himself deeper and even hasten his pace. To proof a point. Or to shove that nonsense aside. Whatever. She made keening, but still encouraging noises at his efforts, trembling and moaning under his merciless ministrations and this time, she pulled him over the edge with her, when her muscles clenched and clenched around him and her hip bucked up to meet him. 

She was still panting for air, when he separated them, and he fell flat on his back, struggling for breath and again for control. As soon as her breathing pattern returned to normal, she leaned herself up on her elbow and turned towards him with a lazy grin, combing her fingers through the damp curls on his forehead. “Gods, Link, you ravished me.” 

“You ok?”, he managed, and after another set of ragged breaths: “Sorry. Got a bit carried away.” 

“Don’t worry. I love when you let go”, she said and her head hit the mattress again. 

Oh, fuck. That. 

Next, she shifted over to his side, drawing lazy circles with her index finger on his chest. It was the closest they would get to afterglow cuddling, and he was impulsively thankful for that. Frozen in place, he hoped her fingertip was too small to feel how his heart rate suddenly picked up speed at her touch. 

“Are you ok, Link?” 

He stared at the ceiling, the reality that he had a big, fat problem slowly sinking in. 

“Sure. Thinking about Pizza.” 

She laughed easily. “Give me five minutes, ok?” 

And with that, she rearranged her panty and her bra and hopped from the bed with a happy sigh to make her way to the shower, while he hoped the red stains on his ceiling – a remnant of several mosquitos he had killed over the years – would form into a loophole. 


	2. Denial

For two days, he convinced himself that everything was in best order. So, what if she wormed her way into his thoughts during the horrible boring anatomy lecture? They were friends. It was totally allowed to think about her overloaded schedule and when she would be home. Yes, he was worried that she was overworking herself and yes, he would do the groceries for her and clean their living room although it was her turn this week because that was what friends did for another. So, what if he had gotten her favorite red wine and what if he had already preordered the movie, she had mentioned last week on their pay TV account? Friends with benefits meant first and foremost friends. And as such, he was allowed to care about her. 

His slip-up? A little trick of his mind, nothing to worry about. He hadn’t even said it aloud, had he? No, no, he wasn’t very vocal anyway and _no way_ she had missed that. She would have given him a harsh telling off for muttering such nonsense. And nonsense it was. They were close, and they were getting intimate on a very regular base, it was bound to happen in the heat of the act one day. If it would – _and it would not_ – ever happen again, he would consider telling her that they should stop. 

So, he found himself perfectly content with the fact that he was dipping a slice of paprika in a bowl with sour cream, Zelda half sitting, half lying in his lap, grinning up at him with her teeth halfway through a carrot. The new James Bond was on the screen and while Link found it a bit silly to eat crudités to a blockbuster, Zelda insisted that they couldn’t eat pizza every second day. 

“You know”, she mumbled, swallowing the rest of the vegetable, “what I like about the newer Bond movies?” 

“Hm?” 

“I like that they don’t let the women swoon over him anymore. That was something that really bothered me about the older ones.” 

He grinned down at her. “Well, good news that there was a spark of emancipation in the last sixty years, I guess. Although…”, he swiped a trace of sour cream from the corner of her mouth and licked it from his thumb, “you don’t have to hide yourself from me, Zelda. I know you are into bad-ass women.” 

“They are fun.” 

He shrugged casually. “You are more fun.” 

“Hm.” 

She turned further towards him, her face dangerously close to his groin now. 

“Ashei and Shad had a discussion about equality today. That made me think.” 

He stared at the TV, not trusting himself with her so close at all. 

“About Bond?” 

“No. About us. Our relationship, I mean.” 

Instantly, his heart was in his throat and for a moment, he forgot that her hot breath was ghosting over his sweat pants. 

“Relationship?” 

He could sense her eye roll in her next words without looking at her. 

“You know what I mean. I just think you deserve a returned favor every now and then.” 

He frowned, eyes glued to the bunch of explosions on the screen. 

“What do you – whoa!”

She shifted for better access without stopping the open-mouthed kisses she was trailing over the growing bulge in his pants. 

“Zelda!” 

Grinning, she pressed her mouth down more firmly and tried to shove his waistband down with her free hand. 

“You are hard already”, she teased and let go of him to free his erection from his clothes. 

“Your _lips_ are on my dick, what did you expect to happen?”, he groaned. 

“Well”, she began and stroked him into a full stand so that she could lick a stripe from the base to the tip, “You didn’t disappoint me.” 

He shuddered, still overwhelmed with the sudden change of the setting, but his body knew what do to on his own. Pushing him back onto the backrest of their couch, she continued with a line of innocent kisses all the way up, before she paused again. 

“I want you to... well. Just don’t hold back, yes?” 

Covering his face with both hands, he let out a growl. 

“Gods, Zelda, you can’t attack me like that and offer me such things!” 

She shrugged and set to work. It was embarrassing how she could turn him on in mere seconds to the point that he couldn’t control the bucking of his hips anymore. She had put her mouth on him before but always just with a chaste kiss or a teasing lick, never with the intention of letting him _finish_. 

He had to grasp the pillows next to him when the hot wetness of her mouth enveloped him, and she twirled her tongue around him in slow, measured movements. She pulled away when he moaned quietly, a few inches only, and looked at the drop of precum on his tip, her smirk mirroring her complacency. Lapping it up, she hummed affectionately and the way she closed her eyes and savored his taste nearly made him come in her face. 

“Zelda…” 

She lowered her mouth again and soon he was lost to the gentle pumping of her hand and the soft friction of her lips. He almost dared to say she was treating him lovingly, but that was a dangerous train of thoughts, and he had absolutely no intentions of exploring it right now. 

Most of the time they were barely kissing, when they had sex, always focused on the way to give in their needs, but now she took her time. She kept him slow, exploring everything he had to offer with her tongue, her lips, even her teeth were dangerously close sometimes, always accompanied by the loose up and down of her hand. The pressure in his lower belly built up agonizingly lazy, but it built and when she took him as deep as she could go, his head sliding easily over the smooth firmness of her palate, his whole body went tight, and he could only hiss: “Gods, Zelda!” 

His body trembled violently with the effort not to buck his hips into her mouth when she did it again, but when she pressed her tongue against him, his control slipped for a split-second. She withdrew, of course, and he muttered a bashful ‘sorry’, cursing himself inwardly. 

“I’m fine.” She smiled at him, her cheeks bright red and her lips swollen from her task. He had to take a deep breath to shove the fluttering sensation in his chest aside. Well… maybe he _had_ a little crush on her. “I just…”, she looked sheepish for a moment and grabbed his hands to place them on the side of her head. “Just help me with the pace, ok?” 

He stared at her in awe and swallowed thickly. _She was doing this for the first time._ And she was doing it for him. How did he get so lucky? The image of her, looking through her lashes at him, pleasuring him with her lips, her tongue, his hands buried in her hair – he knew it would be burned into his memories for a very long time. 

He took a moment longer to savor the scene in front of him, but his body begged for more. She had asked after all, so he tried to guide her to go a little quicker, cautiously, just with his fingertips. The last thing he wanted was that she felt forced to do anything at all. She obliged immediately, picking up the rhythm he  suggested, and soon, the pressure was back. Hot, white, sparkling even, rushing through his veins, letting him vocalize the luxury high she was giving him with a pile of undignified grunts and moans. 

And then, she sucked. Gently, but unmistakable assertively, changing between pressing her flat tongue against him and building up pressure. He tried to push her back, choking out a warning. 

“Z-zelda, I, I’m…” The squeeze she gave his thighs to tell him to let go and her affirmative hum which was vibrating right through him was enough to let the coil snap. He came where she wanted him to come, the rush of his climax leaving him trembling, gasping, unable to do anything else anyway. She guided him through with soft movements of her lips, and he was dimly aware of the feather light kiss she pressed on the tip, receiving what he had offered, before the sensation slowly faded, and he came back. 

His ‘you ok?’ died on his lips, when he saw her swallowing and her face had the smuggest grin, he might have ever seen on her. She let the waistband of his sweatpants flip back in place and crawled up to sit next to him. When they were on eye level again, she chuckled. “Did you like that?” 

He blinked at her. 

“Did I like that?”, he echoed. “I think I need to put a ring on your finger if you ever do this again.” 

Wait, what? That – oh, fuck. He had definitely said _that_ aloud. She stared at him with wide eyes and for a moment he thought she would scold him, but when she didn’t, he shot her a helpless smile. 

“Sorry. I guess…” He coughed bashfully. “I guess ‘thank you’ is what I want to say. And yes, I liked that very much.” 

He put a strand of her hair that had escaped her braid behind her ear, eager to distract her from his silly words. “Do you want me to do something for you?” 

Her head hit his shoulder, and she bumped against his side. “No. This was about you. You are doing that all the time for me. Just restart the movie.” 

He couldn’t resist to pull her closer and that she let him didn’t help at all against the hundred thoughts that were circling in his head. 

“I can’t believe this started as a conversation about gender equality”, he grinned in an attempt to shove them aside and shook his head. She chuckled in his arms. In the very last moment, he stopped the kiss he was about to press at the crown of her head – oh, Hylia, this was escalating quickly. 

He needed to talk to her – they had to stop. Soon. 


	3. Pretense

When he came back from his night out with the boys, he still hadn’t talked to her. He had wanted, but he didn’t know how to bring it up. ‘Hey Zelda, I accidentally fell in love with you, but don’t worry. Just ignore me when I let a ‘love you.’ slip.’ Sighing deeply, he tossed his sneakers from his feet. The last days had been tough, because he had on the one hand tried to be alone to gather his thoughts but on the other hand, he found himself pulled to her like a magnet. Yesterday evening he had even avoided her, when he noticed she was getting touchy. He hadn’t trust himself around her and since he had still no clue what to do, it was the nearest choice to keep his distance for a while. He wasn’t sure if she had noticed.  Turning her down was very untypical for him and being subtle wasn’t one of his assets anyway. 

His coat came off, too, and he hung it over hers, his fingers lingering on the woolen fabric. Perhaps she was still awake, and he should do it now. Of course, he didn’t even have to confess, he could just tell her that he wanted to  end their agreement. She would probably ask a few questions, but if he told her that he had developed feelings for someone, she wouldn't pry . The problem was, he didn’t want to stop – at all. So, in the last days he had been torn between confessing and losing her or telling her to stop and losing her, too. Nice prospects, really. He had even considered waiting it out, perhaps his feelings would just vanish – but she was _ethereal_ , he didn’t expect that to happen anytime soon, especially considering their usual, well, _closeness_. 

Peering through the door to their living room, he detected that she was indeed still there. He took a steeling breath and closed the door behind him. Now or never. She barely turned, and he tried to swallow the lump in his throat. 

“Hey. You are back early.” 

“Yeah. I couldn’t stand Shad’s wish-wash about Ashei any longer. I don’t envy you for this study group at all. He even starts to end every sentence with a ‘yeah’ like she does.” 

He had closed the distance between them and frowned at the sight of her covered with blankets, hair messy and eyes swollen. “What happened?” 

“I’m fine.” She looked away. 

“Zelda.” He gestured towards the paused TV and the coffee table. “You are watching…”, he narrowed his eyes at the screen, “is that ‘dirty dancing’?! And everything is covered with our ice cream toppings. _What happened?_ ” 

“Just a bit moody, that’s all.” Her voice was raspy from crying. 

He sat slowly down on the edge of the couch, shoving a pile of blankets away, trying to keep his tone soft. “Did you fail one of your exams?” 

She shook her head and looked at his arms he had opened in an invitation to hug her. After a long moment, she  shuffled hesitantly over to him. He caressed her back, her hair, even her head, until she whispered: “Worse. Much, much worse.” 

Wow, her exams had always been by far the most important thing in her life. 

“I’m here”, he tried to soothe her, when she hiccuped and her tears left wet spots on his hoodie. “I won’t pry, ok? But if you want to tell me, I’m here.” 

The little movement of her head stung more than it should have. If anything, he had clutched at the idea that they would still be friends, even if he would lose her in any other possible way. They stayed like that – she curled up against his chest, he embracing her with both arms – for what seemed to be hours. Perhaps it was. 

When she finally moved, he had half fallen asleep, her weight on his chest and her warmth not unpleasant at all. Anyway, he was wide awake, when he realized _how_ close she suddenly was. She had sneaked her arms around his neck, her head was tilted to the side and her lips were barely an inch apart from his. He blinked and she closed the gap. Before he could react, not to mention process what was happening, she pulled back. 

“Link”, she whispered against his lips, “Can you make love to me tonight?” She pressed her lips against his again and now he was at least quick enough to press back. 

“Just pretend. Pretend that you love me.” 

What? He distanced himself a few inches from her, unable to form a clear thought with her lips nearly on his. That – that was a horrible idea. Tempting, but horrible. Loving her without having to hold back, kissing her, really kissing her – no. Not when she was so fragile.

“Talk to me, Zelda. Please”, he rasped. 

She closed the gap again, soft and slow, and his resolve faltered in sync with his stuttering heartbeat. 

“I just want to feel something. Please, Link.” 

The next kiss was deeper even and when her tongue traced his bottom lip, he could do nothing else than give in, offering his tongue to her in exchange, the idea of saying no a crumbling thought somewhere in the outskirts of his mind. 

“See?”, she whispered, pulling him closer. “Pretend that you love me, just for tonight. Make me feel.” 

Her words were so terribly wrong, but her kisses felt so heavenly right. When his fingers found their way under the hem of her shirt, she withdrew and breathed: “Come on, my room.” 

She didn’t give him the opportunity to cop out, knowing very well that he probably would if she gave him too much time to think, and they stumbled in her room without breaking the kiss once. If he had needed another hint that something was terribly amiss, there it was. They had never been in her room before, always in his or in the living room, one time they even made it barely in the apartment at all, and he had taken her pressed in the door, her legs wrapped around his hips. And now, she wanted him here and was asking him to make _love_ to her. 

The number of kisses they had shared until today was  quickly outnumbered by the time their clothes formed a forgotten pile on the floor. She made it easy, because she was pretending, too, except he wasn’t, but it was enough for him to keep his heart from breaking for now. It wouldn’t last. The moment he would step through his own door, the memories of the way her hands stroked over his upper body, his biceps, his shoulders, the way she caressed his tongue with hers or the way she buried her face in the crook of his neck, when he let his trembling fingers roam over her body, these memories would haunt him night and day. 

Once they were in her bed, he pressed little kisses on every part of her body, lifting her hand over her head and trailing a line with his lips on the soft skin of her inner arm, her collarbone, her bellybutton. Countless times he had seen her in different states of undress, but never in the last half year had she looked so naked, so vulnerable. He was on the brink of backing out again, afraid he would hurt her, worsen whatever it was that had left her broken like this, but she urged him on with little movements, a whisper in his ear here or a guiding hand there. He couldn’t resist kissing her again, soft and heady at once, although he foreshadowed that every single kiss they shared now would drown him later. 

“Gods, you are beautiful”, he whispered, when he bumped his forehead against hers, his hands caressing her arms, “your face, your body, your mind, everything of you.” 

“Don’t overdo it”, she pleaded and her voice trembled due the tears in her eyes. 

He cupped her face and kissed her again, his lips lingering on hers a moment too long. “I mean it.” 

“Link…”, she breathed, barely audible, broken even. 

The tears fell and when her gaze seemed to be glued to his face, his eyes, he dared to hope that she would finally tell him what was wrong. 

She didn’t. 

Instead, she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him fervently until he was like putty in her hands all over again. Her hands wandered from his shoulders over his back to his hips while her mouth never left his. Without hesitation, she pulled him in, and when she broke the kiss to speak, her voice was husky from crying and something else he couldn’t put his finger on. 

“Make me feel.” 

It was half a command, half a plea, but it didn’t matter because by now, he wasn’t able to resist either from her. 

Slowly, he followed her lead and sank into her, his own breath hitching from the sensation of her warmth and the welling chaos inside him. Neither of them teased or even spoke, they just gave in to the gentle rhythm he was offering. Her moans fell in consonance with his back and forth, and he kissed her again and again, always aware of the fact that this was the only opportunity she would give him to love her like that. His body betrayed his intention to go slow, to delay the end of this bitter-sweet treat, the tension in his lower belly growing while the _iloveyou_ on the tip of his tongue was dangerously close to slip out. 

He bit it back when she pulled him down again – there were good moments for a love declaration and bad and this was probably the worst of all. They were skin on skin now and when she came, moaning his name in his ear, breath hot and wet, it sounded like a prayer. Perhaps he only wished it would. Her name was on his lips, too, when the force of his own climax hit him, because that was safe and meant all the same to him anyway. 

She was quiet when he laid down beside her, too quiet. Her gaze was anywhere but on him and the smile she offered him when he stroked her hair to get her attention was forced – the kiss, however, she gave him, was not. It was soft and purposeful, and he didn’t need to ask, and she didn’t need to say that this was a goodbye. They both knew it. He fought back his tears and where he was successful, she wasn’t, but when he offered a hug again, she stayed apathetic in his arms, and he pulled back. 

“Do you want me to go?”, he asked, voice thick with unshed tears. 

She didn’t answer right away, but then she nodded and the last silver lining he had allowed himself against better judgement died out like the last ray of sunshine in a summer night. 

“Ok”, he whispered. 

Dressing again was an unpleasant task, the way his briefs stick uncomfortable against his body only a reminder of what they had done moments ago, a reminder of what he had lost. Shivering, she sat up, and he tossed her his hoodie instead of pulling it over his head. It was a bit silly, she could have easily taken her blanket for warmth. Perhaps he just wanted to give her a way back. She stared down at the piece of clothing and coming to a decision, she put it on, saying ‘thank you’. 

He wasn’t sure if she meant the hoodie. 

He couldn’t drag out dressing again any longer, so he made his way over to the door, his hand lingering on the handle to postpone the inevitable heart-break that was awaiting him in his room as long as possible. 

“Is it Midna again?”, he asked into the silence between them. In their first year as roommates, she had an on-and-off fling with the beautiful Twili and every few weeks she would end up eating ice cream on their sofa and crying in his shirt. 

She pressed her eyes shut and didn’t answer. 

It was only when he was halfway through the door that he heard her whisper. 

“It’s you.” 

He turned and the weight of her earlier plea knocked the air out of his lung. She had asked him to _pretend_ because she believed he would never love her back. She had desperately tried to feel what it _would_ be like when he loved her. She had wanted to make _love_ to him a last time before they would stop to save what was left of her heart after tonight. 

“Oh, fuck”, he whispered and closed the gap to her as fast as he could. 

“Yes, I know. I’m sorry.” She sniffed; her broken heart visible on every inch of her face. “I should never have asked you that.” 

He pulled her in a hug, but she didn’t move. 

“No, you don’t understand, Zelda. I didn’t pretend.” He pressed a kiss on her hair because she didn’t offer him anything else. “I didn’t need to pretend. It’s you for me, too.” 

Finally, she made a strangled noise. The toxic tension of her shoulders left her, and she twisted in his arms to look at him with wide eyes. 

“Did you just say ‘oh, fuck’ and meant ‘I love you, too’, you stupid moron?”, she asked, and he couldn’t help but shot her a lopsided grin when he saw that the light in her eyes was back. 

“Well… you said you hate sweet nothings.” 

She tried to glare at him, but it didn’t go very well, her relief was too obvious. 

“What am I going to do with you, Link?”, she said and shook her head, her giggle still a tad watery. 

He licked his lips and leaned in to whisper in her ear: “I might know a thing or two…” 

The slap she gave him stung a little on his bare chest, but he was too happy to tease her about that, so he just cupped her cheek and pulled her in for a kiss. The kiss wasn’t very passionate or long or deep, just a mutual understanding of two people who finally knew their place. 

Breathing out deeply, he leaned his forehead against hers and brushed her tear-stained cheeks with both thumbs. 

“Do you want me to stay?”, he smiled. 

“Absolutely.” 

**Author's Note:**

> Leave me a comment and/or a kudo! It always makes my day! 🥰


End file.
